Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 17/249,970

Intelligent Measurement Handling

Final Rejection §102§103
Filed
Mar 19, 2021
Examiner
DEFAUW, THAD N
Art Unit
2412
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
6 (Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
7-8
OA Rounds
2y 10m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allow Rate
214 granted / 257 resolved
+25.3% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+16.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
273
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.3%
-34.7% vs TC avg
§103
54.4%
+14.4% vs TC avg
§102
16.9%
-23.1% vs TC avg
§112
17.1%
-22.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 257 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . DETAILED ACTION Response to Amendment The amendment filed 2/2/2026 has been entered Claims 1-20 are rejected. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-2, 4, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Vivanco (US 2021/0185582). Regarding Claim 1, Vivanco teaches a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations comprising (Vivanco, Fig 8, processor 802 of mobile handset 800): determining that the UE is configured with a measurement gap for performing a measurement corresponding to a first radio access technology (RAT) that is different than a second RAT on which the UE is currently camped (Vivanco, Fig 2, paragraph 52, network 200 comrpises gNB 202 (e.g. a 5G base station) and eNB 204 (e.g. LTE base station), LTE eNB 204 may be the primary eNB and controls secondary 5G NR base station, UE 220 capable of dual connectivity is able to receive data from eNB and gNB, paragraph 32, based on whether the probability of the UE connecting to the 5G network is low or high, the central node can command the eNB to send an updated inter-RAT measurement gap pattern to the UE that is either more aggressive or less aggressive depending on the probability, hence the UE receives a measurement gap for measuring 5G while it is camped on LTE); determining a likelihood of whether the UE is to be configured with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT based on an evaluation of an environment into which the UE is operating within, wherein the evaluation of the environment indicates a degradation of a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the second RAT (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement, paragraph 30, transferring of data is split between LTE and 5G, control of dual connectivity is always in the hands of the eNB, if UE finds a candidate gNB then the eNB will set up communication with the gNB to establish a connection to the UE from gNB in addition from eNB, paragraph 31, B1-Threshold (note this is different than B1_Threshold) is used for secondary gNB addition to allow traffic offload to 5G, paragraph 32, the central node estimates a probability value y indicating a likelihood of UE connecting to 5G, note that the probability of adding 5G is zero until inter-RAT measurement is triggered by current RSRP of the serving cell, after the inter-RAT measurement is triggered then the probability is higher and is calculated based on multiple factors); and implementing a mitigation technique based on the degradation of the RSRP of the second RAT, wherein the mitigation technique comprises (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement): reducing a periodicity of the measurement gap corresponding to the first RAT (Vivanco, paragraph 32, if the probability of UE connecting to gNB is high, the central node can command eNB to send updated Inter-RAT measuring gap pattern to the UE which more aggressive to encourage gNB detection, paragraph 55, If the likelihood of UE connecting to the gNB is high, then the global scheduler can adjust the frequency of measurements conducted by the UE to be aggressive (e.g., aggressive measurements—constantly taking measurements until connection is established), taking measurements more frequently would equate to a smaller period(icity) for the measurement gaps). Regarding Claim 2, Vivanco further teaches wherein the first RAT is a 5G New Radio (NR) RAT and the second RAT is a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) RAT (Vivanco, Fig 2, paragraph 52, the network has dual connectivity, LTE eNB 204 is the primary network node, controlling secondary 5G NR base station). Regarding Claim 4, Vivanco further teaches wherein the operations further comprise: searching and measuring a set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT (Vivanco, paragraph 32, based on whether the probability is low or high, the central node can command the eNB to send an updated inter-RAT measurement gap pattern to the UE that is either more aggressive or less aggressive depending on the probability, hence the eNB would have sent both the original inter-RAT measurement gap and updated inter-RAT measurement gaps to the UE). Regarding Claim 8, Vivanco further teaches wherein the determining the likelihood of whether to configure the UE with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT is based on a difference between a first reference signal received power (RSRP) corresponding to a currently camped cell and a second RSRP corresponding to the currently camped cell (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement, it is interpreted that the first RSRP is the measured RSRP of the current cell and the second RSRP is a threshold value to compare the measured value with to determine whether to trigger inter-RAT measurement, the difference between the measured RSRP and the threshold RSRP being positive or negative would indicate whether the measured RSRP is above or below the threshold RSRP, paragraph 32, the central node estimates a probability value y indicating a likelihood of UE connecting to 5G, note that the probability of adding 5G is zero until inter-RAT measurement is triggered by current RSRP of the serving cell, after the inter-RAT measurement is triggered then the probability is higher and is calculated based on multiple factors). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) in view of Patel (US 2020/0169339). Regarding Claim 3, Vivanco teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1, but do not explicitly teach wherein the determining the likelihood of whether to configure the UE with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT is based on an application processor of the UE providing an indication of a data rate that is to be utilized by an application running on the UE, however Patel teaches wherein the determining the likelihood of whether to configure the UE with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT is based on an application processor of the UE providing an indication of a data rate that is to be utilized by an application running on the UE (Patel, paragraph 35, the FWA device may be configured to attach to a 4G LTE base station and request high data rate traffic via a connection with the 4G LTE base station, the high data rate traffic may trigger the 4G LTE base station to add a 5G NR base station as a secondary node and send a reconfiguration message that indicates to the FWA device that the 5G secondary node has been added and that includes information identifying a synchronization signal associated with the added 5G secondary node, the FWA device may then measure and report the 5G signal strength based on the indicated frequency of the SSB signal, hence the device will perform 5G measurements when there is a need for 5G service due to high data rates, but will not perform 5G measurements when there is not a high data rate need). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco by adding skipping measurement based on data rate of an application as taught by Patel. Because Vivanco and Patel teach measurements, and specifically Patel teaches skipping measurement based on data rate of an application for the benefit of the analogous art of managing different radio technology types (Patel, paragraph 2). Claims 5 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) in view of Hwang (US 2019/0045416). Regarding Claim 5, Vivanco teaches all the limitations of parent claim 4, but does not explicitly teach wherein the determining the likelihood of whether the network is to configure the UE with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT is based on i) a motion state of the UE and ii) performing the searching and measuring of the set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT a predetermined number of times. However Hwang teaches wherein the determining the likelihood of whether to configure the UE with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT is based on i) a motion state of the UE and ii) performing the searching and measuring of the set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT a predetermined number of times (Hwang, paragraph 79, in case of stationary UE, various methods are used for skipping the measurement of a neighbor cell, paragraph 102, In addition, when a signal strength or quality value (RSRP or RSRQ) measured after the signal strength or quality fulfills the criteria condition for a specific time or a specific number of times, the UE may determine that there is no mobility). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco by adding deciding whether to skip a measurement based on whether the UE is stationary as taught by Hwang. Because Vivanco and Hwang teach measurements, and specifically Hwang teaches deciding whether to skip a measurement based on whether the UE is stationary for the benefit of the analogous art of converging a 5G communication system for supporting a higher data rate beyond a 4G system with an IoT technology (Hwang, abstract) Regarding Claim 7, Vivanco and Hwang further teach wherein the motion state is one of stationary or mobile (Hwang, paragraph 79, in case of stationary UE, various methods are used for skipping the measurement of a neighbor cell). Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) and Hwang (US 2019/0045416), and further in view of Jensen (US 2018/0352381). Regarding Claim 6, Vivanco and Hwang teach all the limitations of parent claim 5, but do not explicitly teach wherein the motion state is determined by an always on processor, however Jensen teaches wherein the motion state is determined by an always on processor (Jensen, paragraph 62, sensors 270 can include an always-on processor that can be used to determine movement information). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco and Hwang by adding determining whether a UE is stationary with an always-on processor as taught by Jensen. Because Vivanco, Hwang, and Jensen teach performing measurements, and specifically Jensen teaches determining whether a UE is stationary with an always-on processor for the benefit of the analogous art of state-based location monitoring (Jensen, abstract) Claims 9 and 11-13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) in view of Lee (2022/0078650). Regarding Claim 9, Vivanco teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1, but does not explicitly teach wherein the operations further comprise: sending an indication to the second RAT indicating that the UE is to omit performing the measurement during the measurement gap. However Lee teaches wherein the operations further comprise: sending an indication to the second RAT indicating that the UE is to omit performing the measurement during the measurement gap (Lee, paragraph 276, 279, 281, if the UE has new data available for URLLC service and the cell quality is above the threshold, the UE informs the NW of the MG skip and performs UL data transmission instead of performing measurement during the measurement gap). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco by adding measurement gap skip as taught by Lee. Because Vivanco and Lee teach performing measurements, and specifically Lee teaches measurement gap skip for the benefit of the analogous art of scheduling of UL and DL communications to overcome delay or latency (Lee, paragraph 3) Regarding Claim 11, Vivanco and Lee further teach wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a downlink signal from a network during the measurement gap (Lee, paragraph 235, 240, if the MG skip signaling has been received, the UE may perform receiving DL data on DL-SCH). Regarding Claim 12, Vivanco teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1, but does not explicitly teach wherein the operations further comprise: performing an uplink transmission during the measurement gap. However Lee teaches wherein the operations further comprise: performing an uplink transmission during the measurement gap (Lee, paragraph 235, 238, if the MG skip signaling has been received, the UE may perform transmitting UL data on UL-SCH). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco by adding performing UL transmission during measurement gap skip as taught by Lee. Because Vivanco and Lee teach performing measurements, and specifically Lee teaches performing UL transmission during measurement gap skip for the benefit of the analogous art of scheduling of UL and DL communications to overcome delay or latency (Lee, paragraph 3) Regarding Claim 13, Vivanco and Lee further teach wherein the uplink transmission is associated with one: of a scheduling request, a configured grant and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback (Lee, paragraph 276, 277, 281, if the UE has new data available for URLLC service and the cell quality is above the threshold, the UE informs the NW of the MG skip and may perform HARQ feedback instead of performing measurement during the measurement gap, HARQ feedback would be an uplink transmission). Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) and Lee (2022/0078650), and further in view of Denoo (2016/0337916). Regarding Claim 10, Vivanco and Lee teach all the limitations of parent claim 9, but do not explicitly teach wherein the indication is included in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), however Denoo teaches wherein the indication is included in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (Denoo, paragraph 231, An mB may signal the mWTRU with a measurement gap related configuration using RRC signaling or a MAC Control element, as per paragraphs 221 and 225 of Lee measurement gap configuration may include measurement gap skip configuration). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco and Lee by adding the indication of measurement gap configuration being on a MAC CE as taught by Denoo. Because Vivanco, Lee, and Denoo teach measurements, and specifically Denoo teaches measurement gap configuration being on a MAC CE for the benefit of the analogous art of utilizing gap patterns to obtain a measurement (Denoo, abstract) Claims 14-15, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) in view of Yilmaz (US 2015/0004971) and Gordaychik (US 2019/0363843). Regarding Claim 14, Vivanco teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising (Vivanco, Vivanco, Fig 8, processor 802 of mobile handset 800): a transceiver configured to communicate with a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT (Vivanco, Fig 8, communication component 810 of mobile handset 800, Fig 2, paragraph 52, network 200 comprises gNB 202 (e.g. a 5G base station) and eNB 204 (e.g. LTE base station), UE 220 capable of dual connectivity is able to receive data from eNB and gNB); and a processor configured to perform operations comprising (Vivanco, Fig 8, processor 802 of mobile handset 800): determining that the UE is configured with measurements corresponding to the first RAT that is different than the second RAT on which the UE is currently camped (Vivanco, Fig 2, paragraph 52, network 200 comprises gNB 202 (e.g. a 5G base station) and eNB 204 (e.g. LTE base station), LTE eNB 204 may be the primary eNB and controls secondary 5G NR base station, UE 220 capable of dual connectivity is able to receive data from eNB and gNB, paragraph 32, based on whether the probability of the UE connecting to the 5G network is low or high, the central node can command the eNB to send an updated inter-RAT measurement gap pattern to the UE that is either more aggressive or less aggressive depending on the probability, hence the UE receives a measurement gap for measuring 5G while it is camped on LTE); identifying that a predetermined condition has been satisfied, wherein the predetermined condition indicates a likelihood of the UE being configured with dual connectivity using the first RAT and the second RAT, where the likelihood is based on an evaluation of an environment into which the UE is operating within; (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement, paragraph 30, transferring of data is split between LTE and 5G, control of dual connectivity is always in the hands of the eNB, if UE finds a candidate gNB then the eNB will set up communication with the gNB to establish a connection to the UE from gNB in addition from eNB, paragraph 31, B1-Threshold (note this is different than B1_Threshold) is used for secondary gNB addition to allow traffic offload to 5G, paragraph 32, the central node estimates a probability value y indicating a likelihood of UE connecting to 5G, note that the probability of adding 5G is zero until inter-RAT measurement is triggered by current RSRP of the serving cell, after the inter-RAT measurement is triggered then the probability is higher and is calculated based on multiple factors); and implementing a mitigation technique in response to identifying that the predetermined condition has been satisfied, wherein the predetermined condition indicates a degradation of a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the second RAT and, wherein the mitigation technique comprises (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement): reducing a periodicity for the measurements corresponding to the first RAT (Vivanco, paragraph 32, if the probability of UE connecting to gNB is high, the central node can command eNB to send updated Inter-RAT measuring gap pattern to the UE which more aggressive to encourage gNB detection, paragraph 55, If the likelihood of UE connecting to the gNB is high, then the global scheduler can adjust the frequency of measurements conducted by the UE to be aggressive (e.g., aggressive measurements—constantly taking measurements until connection is established), taking measurements more frequently would equate to a smaller period(icity) for the measurement gaps); In the below 2 limitations, Vivanco does not explicitly teach gapless measurement: (determining that the UE is configured with) gapless (measurements corresponding to the first RAT that is different than the second RAT on which the UE is currently camped); (reducing a periodicity for the) gapless (measurements corresponding to the first RAT); Vivanco also does not teach the below limitation: providing an indication of the reduction in periodicity to a network station, associated with the second RAT upon which the UE is camped; However Gordaychik teaches gapless measurements (Gordaychik, paragraph 150, measurements may be taken during measurement gaps or gapless measurements may be made); It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco by adding gapless measurement as taught by Gordaychik. Because Vivanco and Gordaychik teach measurement, and specifically Gordaychik teaches gapless measurement for the benefit of the analogous art of transmitting a capability ID corresponding to a plurality of capabilities of the UE to a gNB (Gordaychik, abstract). Vivanco and Gordaychik do not explicitly teach the below limitation: providing an indication of the reduction in periodicity to a network station, associated with the second RAT upon which the UE is camped; However Yilmaz teaches the below limitation: providing an indication of the reduction in periodicity to a network station, associated with the second RAT upon which the UE is camped (Yilmaz, paragraph 34, instead of interrupting the search for small cells, the UE may transmit a message to the network to assign fewer a new measurement gap frequency lower than the measurement gap frequency in use prior to discovery of the discovered small cell); It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco and Gordaychik by adding indication of the reduction in periodicity as taught by Yilmaz. Because Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz teach measurement, and specifically Yilmaz teaches indication of the reduction in periodicity for the benefit of the analogous art of connection or attachment management in wireless communication networks comprising different cells (Yilmaz, paragraph 1). Regarding Claim 15, Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz further teach wherein the first RAT is a 5G new radio (NR) RAT and the second RAT is a long-term evolution (LTE) RAT (Gordaychik, paragraph 181, UE may be in in dual connectivity if it is in simultaneous communication with an LTE cell and an NR cell). Regarding Claim 17, Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz further teach wherein the operations further comprise: searching and measuring a set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT (Vivanco, paragraph 32, based on whether the probability is low or high, the central node can command the eNB to send an updated inter-RAT measurement gap pattern to the UE that is either more aggressive or less aggressive depending on the probability, hence the eNB would have sent both the original inter-RAT measurement gap and updated inter-RAT measurement gaps to the UE). Regarding Claim 20, Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz further teach wherein the predetermined condition is based on a difference between a first reference signal received power (RSRP) corresponding to a currently camped cell and a second RSRP corresponding to the currently camped cell (Vivanco, paragraph 29, 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement, it is interpreted that the first RSRP is the measured RSRP of the current cell and the second RSRP is a threshold value to compare the measured value with to determine whether to trigger inter-RAT measurement, the difference between the measured RSRP and the threshold RSRP being positive or negative would indicate whether the measured RSRP is above or below the threshold RSRP, paragraph 32, the central node estimates a probability value y indicating a likelihood of UE connecting to 5G, note that the probability of adding 5G is zero until inter-RAT measurement is triggered by current RSRP of the serving cell, after the inter-RAT measurement is triggered then the probability is higher and is calculated based on multiple factors). Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582) , Gordaychik (US 2019/0363843), and Yilmaz (US 2015/0004971), and further in view of Patel (US 2020/0169339). Regarding Claim 16, Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz teach all the limitations of parent claim 14, but does not explicitly teach further comprising: an application processor, wherein the predetermined condition is based on whether the application processor has provided an indication of a data rate that is to be utilized by an application running on the UE. However Patel teaches further comprising: an application processor, wherein the predetermined condition is based on whether the application processor has provided an indication of a data rate that is to be utilized by an application running on the UE (Patel, paragraph 35, the FWA device may be configured to attach to a 4G LTE base station and request high data rate traffic via a connection with the 4G LTE base station, the high data rate traffic may trigger the 4G LTE base station to add a 5G NR base station as a secondary node and send a reconfiguration message that indicates to the FWA device that the 5G secondary node has been added and that includes information identifying a synchronization signal associated with the added 5G secondary node, the FWA device may then measure and report the 5G signal strength based on the indicated frequency of the SSB signal, hence the device will perform 5G measurements when there is a need for 5G service due to high data rates, but will not perform 5G measurements when there is not a high data rate need). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz by adding skipping measurement based on data rate of an application as taught by Patel. Because Vivanco, Gordaychik, Yilmaz, and Patel teach measurements, and specifically Patel teaches skipping measurement based on data rate of an application for the benefit of the analogous art of managing different radio technology types (Patel, paragraph 2). Claims 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Vivanco (US 2021/0185582), Gordaychik (US 2019/0363843), and Yilmaz (US 2015/0004971), and further in view of Hwang (US 2019/0045416). Regarding Claim 18, Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz teach all the limitations of parent claim 17, but does not explicitly teach wherein the predetermined condition is based on i) a motion state of the UE and ii) performing the searching and measuring of the set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT a predetermined number of times. However Hwang teaches wherein the predetermined condition is based on i) a motion state of the UE and ii) performing the searching and measuring of the set of frequencies corresponding to the first RAT a predetermined number of times (Hwang, paragraph 79, in case of stationary UE, various methods are used for skipping the measurement of a neighbor cell, paragraph 102, In addition, when a signal strength or quality value (RSRP or RSRQ) measured after the signal strength or quality fulfills the criteria condition for a specific time or a specific number of times, the UE may determine that there is no mobility). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Vivanco, Gordaychik, and Yilmaz by adding deciding whether to skip a measurement based on whether the UE is stationary as taught by Hwang. Because Vivanco, Gordaychik, Yilmaz, and Hwang teach measurements, and specifically Hwang teaches deciding whether to skip a measurement based on whether the UE is stationary for the benefit of the analogous art of converging a 5G communication system for supporting a higher data rate beyond a 4G system with an IoT technology (Hwang, abstract) Regarding Claim 19, Vivanco, Gordaychik, Yilmaz, and Hwang further teach wherein the motion state is one of stationary or mobile (Hwang, paragraph 79, in case of stationary UE, various methods are used for skipping the measurement of a neighbor cell). Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but are respectfully not persuasive. For independent claim 1 (and with a similar limitation for independent claim 14) Applicant argues that Vivanco and Yilmaz do not teach the below limitation: Implementing a mitigation technique based on the degradation of the RSRP associated with the second RAT, wherein the mitigation technique coimprises: reducing a periodicity of the measurement gap corresponding to the first RAT; However Vivanco teaches in paragraph 29 that 3GPP LTE-eNB triggers inter-frequency/inter-RAT measurement when signal power (RSRP) of serving frequency is below a pre-defined threshold (e.g., B1_Threshold), hence degradation of the current RAT triggers inter-RAT measurement. Vivanco paragraph 31 teaches B1-Threshold (note this is different than B1_Threshold) being used for secondary gNB addition to allow traffic offload to 5G. Vivanco teaches in paragraph 32 that the central node estimates a probability value y indicating a likelihood of UE connecting to 5G, and that if the probability is high the central node can command eNB to send updated Inter-RAT measuring gap pattern to the UE which is more aggressive to encourage gNB detection. Vivanco in paragraph 55 further teaches that if the likelihood of UE connecting to the gNB is high, then the global scheduler can adjust the frequency of measurements conducted by the UE to be aggressive (e.g., aggressive measurements—constantly taking measurements until connection is established). Taking measurements more frequently would equate to a smaller period(icity) for the measurement gaps Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAD N DEFAUW whose telephone number is (571)272-6905. The examiner can normally be reached the first Wednesday and Thursday of the bi-week 9 am – 5 pm, and the second Monday and Tuesday of the bi-week 9 am – 5 pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /T.N.D/ Examiner, Art Unit 2412 /CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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Prosecution Timeline

Mar 19, 2021
Application Filed
Dec 27, 2022
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103
Apr 05, 2023
Response Filed
Aug 06, 2023
Final Rejection — §102, §103
Dec 18, 2023
Request for Continued Examination
Dec 27, 2023
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 20, 2024
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103
Jul 24, 2024
Response Filed
Nov 21, 2024
Final Rejection — §102, §103
Feb 04, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 04, 2025
Request for Continued Examination
Apr 14, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Sep 29, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103
Feb 02, 2026
Response Filed
Mar 07, 2026
Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

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2y 5m to grant Granted Oct 21, 2025
Patent 12432697
METHOD AND COMMUNICATIONS APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING SIDELINK TRANSMISSION RESOURCE
2y 5m to grant Granted Sep 30, 2025
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

7-8
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+16.2%)
2y 10m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 257 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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